Experimental and computational investigations of the dynamic failure processes in glass-ceramics

Glass-ceramics find many industrial applications, including in the medical and electronic sectors. While it is generally recognized that crystalline phases can toughen glass-ceramics, the underlying fundamental mechanisms which link the micro- or nano-scale structures with the macroscale mechanical properties remain poorly understood. As a result, physics-informed design approaches for damage-tolerant glass-ceramics remain largely unavailable. Our focus in this effort is to provide primary laboratory data on these mechanisms, and to develop a quantitative understanding of the mechanism through computational simulations.

In this regard, we present our work along two directions. The first direction concerns in-situ experimental observations of the dynamic failure process of glass-ceramics, where we use a Shack-Hartman wavefront sensor (SHWFS) coupled with X-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) to provide quantitative information on the deformations, as well as the dynamics of crack propagation. The second direction concerns experiment-informed numerical simulations of crack propagation in glass-ceramics, where we use phase-field modeling to provide quantitative information on the heterogeneous stress fields as the crack propagates and interacts with the crystalline phases in glass-ceramics. These studies will serve as the first step towards our long-term goal of establishing physics-informed rational design protocols for damage-tolerant glass-ceramics.